Reviews of safaris to Waterberg Plateau National Park

"Namibia is an amazing country, spectacuar sights from beginning to end. All the bookings were good, no confusions anywhere.

The plan was ours rather than Expert Africa's, we just requested the accommodation to be booked for us. Where our first choice was not available they were very helpful in suggesting alternatives.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

Not really" Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 18 on a Namibia trip

"It was a wonderful trip. We were aware that we were not doing this trip at an ideal time of the year, but, it enabled us to see a different side to Namibia having exprienced the South and the deserts previously this was totally different.

We found the driving along the Caprivi Strip rather monotonous, but, it certainly gave us a feeling of being the real Africa with the small Villages along the way and cattle, goats and children scattered in the road until the occasional car/lorry approached. Everyone we stopped to speak to were friendly and happy to communicate with us.

It was interesting that apart from Waterberg all the other lodges we stayed at were on islands which again made it very different to our last visit and allowed us to see the wild life of the rivers and wetlands.
The Victoria Falls was our highlight which we wanted it to be.

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:
No. This is our 2nd trip with you and we would highly recommend you to all our friends and family." Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 5 on a Namibia trip

"The book on Namibioa very useful.

Suggestions for improvements:

Need to include information that cautions people about speeding in Windhoek, other towns and within 15 kilometres of such towns.Penalties for speeding rise rapdily.

For example 130 kph in a 120 kph levies a fine of N$175. I inadvertently was travelling at 130 kph in a 120 kph and when stopped the Police expected me to travel back to the local police station to immediately pay the fine which would have delayed my check in at Etosha. The Police left me off with a warning.IT IS VERY EASY TO EXCEED THE SPEED LIMIT ON A LONG STRAIGHT TAR ROAD WITH LITTLE TRAFFIC." Read full review: 9 nights in Africa; 9 on a Namibia trip

"The arrangements all went according to plan.

We did however end the trip feeling a bit uncomfortable being affluent tourists in such an obviously poor country, especially as under our own arrangements we visited a San community, who are more underprivileged than most." Read full review: 22 nights in Africa; 12 on a Namibia trip

"Because of our fairly late booking some of our first choices were unavailable and thus we had to compromise and shorten our trip this year. Prices in some cases seem to have risen significantly. Some parts of Namibia are now becoming overdeveloped particularly just outside ETOSHA. That said there is still plenty of space to go round!

Suggestions to help us improve our trips or our service:

We have always been very happy with the service all the staff at Expert Africa have provided to us over many years now and long may it continue." Read full review: 16 nights in Africa; 9 on a Namibia trip

"Having been born in Africa and not visited it for over 14 years this trip has been a truly wonderful opportunity to rekindle my passion for this continent and has left me very homesick for the place where my heart with forever truly lie.

One Africa is in your blood or gets under your skin you will never cease to hanker for the open space, simplicity and true honest friendly welcome of the local people. The terrain and landscape is breathtaking, so variable and truely magical.

Suggestions for improvement:

Keep up the amazing work- it has been terrific to deal with a company that truely understands and is willing to advise and put together an itinerary hat is so perfectly suited to a clients requirements and desires. Thanks so much for making this trip everything | had hoped for and more!" Read full review: 12 nights in Africa; 4 on a Namibia trip

"The animals at Etosha were inevitably he highlight of our trip but this doe not take away anything from the rst of our holiday. We stayed at some exceptional places and had some wonderful experiences. Namibia is a stunning country and we enjoyed every aspect to it.

This is the second time we have used Expert Africa and the Bradt guide and are sure to use them both again. Sabina was always helpful and responded well to all my quirky requests.

Suggestions for improvement:

This not an improvement but is something I would like EXpert to consider taking up.

This is that I think that the quality of the experience offered by NWR at, especially, Etosha is deteriorating. Although the individual staff are generally courteous and helpful I think they need to improve their service as they no longer offer a value for money experience compared with that offered by the lodges with which they are in competition. This is an issue for them but my main concern lies with their management of the Park.

Firstly, I was extrememly concerned by their seeming lack of an effective response to a fire in the Park when I was there at the beginning of October. I first noticed the fire in the morning as a very small column of smoke which by the end of the day had extended on at least a 5km front from the western edge of the park right up to the Pan. I was told this was not the first big fire recently and would like to be assured that the NWR was learning from its recent experiences in this regard.

Secondly, the absence of rangers on patrol within the Park meant that there was little policing going on. It suggested to me that the aminals of secondary importance and this might be symptomatic of a neglect of the environmental conservation aspect of managing the park and that sadly it is increasingly looked upon by government as solely a cash cow." Read full review: 15 nights in Africa; 13 on a Namibia trip

"Namibia is certainly an interesting and beautiful country to visit. Highlights were driving through the dramatic desert scenery, climbing the dunes, seeing the seals at Cape Cross, watching a rhino family drink at Okaukuejo's waterhole, seeing crocodiles on the Angolan bank of the Okavango river, and the relaxed and friendly atmosphere at Ghaub guest farm. Having travelled fairly widely in Africa, the thing that perhaps surprised us most was how few people there are in Namibia (2.2/km2) - even the towns seemed empty!

It was interesting that none of the lodges (except Ghaub) offered child portions for their meals, even for very young children, which unfortunately resulted in food being wasted.

Cash was easier to find than expected with ATMs in even the smallest towns and at many petrol stations, which was good as food and supplies seemed generally quite expensive.

Expert Africa certainly organised the trip well - Tracy was always happy to answer queries, replied rapidly to my emails, and kept us posted with any changes. We had originally asked for self-catering as much as possible and I realise that in many places this is not possible, but where we were quoted only bed and breakfast we sort of assumed there would be facilities for catering for ourselves which was not always the case - this was perhaps our fault for not clarifying this before leaving. Otherwise, the voucher system worked well and everything was booked as expected (except for the family room at Haus Sonneneck). The route was clearly marked and lodges were easy to find." Read full review: 21 nights in Africa; 18 on a Namibia trip

"Very very good. Each lodge had some advantages and some disadvantages, but on the whole they were really good. We had no real problems on the trip and some very good experiences (and animal sightings). It was one long safari, but that was really what we had wanted.

The one contact we had with Wilderness Safaris was good too - through the delay at the airport with the car hire, and the fact that we took one wrong turning on the motorway, we were on course to arrive too late in Waterberg. Wilderness had an emergency phone no and she arranged for the Waterberg gate to stay open, so that problem was solved.

We were also very satisfied with the whole procedure between our first enquiry and the actual trip. Maruska was extremely helpful and efficient, patiently giving us detailed answers to any question we had." Read full review: 20 nights in Africa; 14 on a Namibia trip

"Brilliant, better than we had expected!

Suggestions for improvement:

No, we felt we were in very good hands and thanks to Tracy." Read full review: 13 nights in Africa; 12 on a Namibia trip